Our typical morning here at the marina includes a walk up the dock to use the restrooms. This morning, we came across a mess of blood and hair on the dock--signs that a new seal pup was born during the night.
As we continued down the dock, the sound of splashing was quite evident, and as we followed the sound, the sight of a new born seal pup swimming vigorously through the water, his back tail fins were propelling him across the top of the water like a little motor boat.
We giggled at the sight of this new life exploring the surroundings of the marina. He certainly got around to every place and wasn't afraid of people as he approached us on the dock. His mom, on the other hand, was not happy with us being that close and tried in vain to direct him to where she wanted the little fellow to go.
We weren't sure
whether he was scared or just wanting to check out everything, but this
little guy kept on swimming around boat after boat, coming right up to
people, all the time his back fins pumping as fast as they could move
him.
He eventually settled down and later that evening we watched him and mom leisurely floating around the marina.
As the weeks went by, we had other seal pups born, but none gave us the excitement this little one did on this special morning!
With weather warming in Sequim and dry days upon us for awhile, Jerry took to replacing the rest of the windows on Cloud Nine. As noted in earlier post, the explosion the end of January caused damage to our boat and we couldn't replace just the two windows that were damaged, as the boat wouldn't look the same. Insurance luckily says that you have to put the boat back to the way it looked before the explosion, i.e. all windows looking the same, so they gave us the funds to replace all four. So Jerry has been working on getting the damaged ones out and new ones in their place.
Taking out the old windows and fitting the new ones in takes some preparation time. Once the old windows are out, filling strips were needed to build up the framework for the new windows.
He used 3/8" thick oak strips to fill in to fit the new window frame, epoxying in each piece into place.
Once framing was set, he painted a layer of West Systems epoxy over the entire area.
A layer of 3M epoxy filler was then smoothed on to fill the cracks and indentations.
Sanding was the final preparation before the new window was installed. Most days, a second layer of epoxy filler was laid down and sanded once dried.
The window goes in place, the side painted, and the boat begins to take on its new look with its new color: sandstone.
Don't you love the fishing rod! It's always available!
We returned home to Sequim and Nancy was sick within a day with one of the nastiest colds/flus she's every had. A call to their friendly nurse practitioner brought much-needed antibiotics and 48 hours later Nancy's friends of 40+ years, Martha & Nancy, arrived in Seattle for a week-long visit. Luckily, they were very understanding, giving her the rest she needed, and as she improved, they were able to take day trips to the Hoh Rain Forest and Butchart Gardens in Victoria.
Jerry came down with the same nasty bug, and as of this date, they both are still hacking and coughing and looking forward to the day they are both finally over this bug.
Warm days in Sequim finally, so we're planning on replacing some windows during this warm and dry weather.
